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After the difficulties with the kids' club bracelets and just generally everyone wanting a key card that opens their actual cabin, we headed down to guest services to see if we could get the room assignments changed.

 

Aaaaahahahahaaahhahhaaaa! For two days straight that line wound around the corner and I don't know about you, but I don't go on holiday to stand in line for hours! What to do instead? Grab some drinks, get some lunch, sit back, and go with the flow. I thought the lunch buffet was excellent. The pizza is outstanding and there is always margherita and pepperoni, plus one other rotating flavor. I loved the Mediterranean corner with the meats and cheeses, of which there were 3-4 kinds of each, plus olives, sundried tomatoes, dried figs, nuts, etc. to make a nice cheese plate. There's a Grill station with two different kinds of burgers, fries, hot dogs, and sometimes seasoned curly fries and/or sweet potato fries. A salad bar section that, IMO, has too few offerings, a cut and whole fruit area, Rotisserie area with chicken seasoned different each day plus sides like potatoes, rice, cooked veg, etc. to go with, a variety of sandwiches and wraps, two soups per day, and several pastas--usually at least one baked dish, plus a few more with sauces. A small variety of other hot dishes rotated in and out--things like fish. At the back, something was always being carved during regular lunch hours. I noticed a whole turkey, ham, and Chicago beef. There are self-serve taps for Heineken and Heineken light in the back of the buffet, as well as for house red and white wine, and sodas. Also available were various watered down juice drinks, water and ice, coffee, tea, lemonade, and milk. The buffet on 8 has a bar with a limited selection of items and bar service can be hit or miss with its speed. When the buffet is full to bursting, well, that's a lot of orders to try to get.

 

The lunch buffet on 16 is smaller, but with most of the same things. This one does have a dedicated kid's section with chicken nuggets, fish fingers, potato croquettes, mac and cheese, quesadillas, hamburger patties and hot dogs, on rotation of 4-5 dishes at a time. This is also where you'll find the soft serve ice cream. There isn't a dedicated bar here, but the pool bar is just around the corner.

 

Anyway, we did manage to get the cabins switched on day three, which cleared up the kids' club situation.

 

One situation that I DID stand in line for (for 45 minutes) was to chat with the maitre'd about our dining time. Here's another one of those ridiculous things we couldn't sort out before the cruise with admin: between the three cabins within our one SuperFamilyPlus reservation, we had two different dining times. Two cabins were late, and one early. We'd requested early, and our reservation showed early until the actual cabin assignment. When my MIL called about the discrepancy, the MSC rep said she changed us all to early, no worries. When we got on board? All assigned late.

 

I know there have been lots of questions about Bella and the buffet restaurant in the evenings. I don't know too much about what was happening there. We were assigned the Seashore restaurant and had Fantastica experience. I can say, however, that one of the reasons the line to address the dining issue was so long was because a woman was truly belligerent about being assigned Marketplace for her dinner. She and the Maitre'd went back and forth on it for some time. At one point, a security personnel came up to stand behind the Maitre'd. I don't know that the situation was ever resolved, so to speak, but she did move on. I am entirely neutral about her behavior, btw. Different things matter differently to different people and such is humanity. When it came to be my turn, the best he could offer me was to write down my name and cabin number and say he'd let me know by the next day if there was anything he could do for me. "And if I don't hear from you?" I asked. He shrugged.

 

Needless to say, I didn't hear from him. I did catch up with him midweek and change our second week to early dining. Which brings us to....

I was wondering about the beer and wine you mentioned. Are they free?

anyone have a photo of the sofa when it opens to a bunk bed?

Thanks so much for taking the time with all the details and photos!